During my high school years, I've had a change in attitude towards what some teenagers do for fun and what others think is dangerous. As I've grown, I've realized which path I've chosen and what others have taken. The peer pressure to do drugs and alcohol is extremely high. I chose my path, which will you choose? My idea of fun is to go out to eat, go shopping, go running, and just hanging out with my friends. However, during my high school years, I've realized that other teenagers need drugs and alcohol for entertainment. Many teenagers post their drug and alcohol usage on social media and it made me realize that I don't want to be perceived in that way. My opinion is that it is one thing to take part in those kinds of activities but it is …show more content…
I have been apart of the Genoa Central track and field and cross country team every since seventh grade, which is a total of five years. Being on this team has shown me discipline, given me structure, and has shown me that hard work pays off. Maybe if more teenagers were involved in an extracurricular activity they might not be in the situation that they are in. The influence that track and cross country has given me is to stay clean and focus on my education for the hope of a track and cross country scholarship. I don't think this would have been possible if I would have chosen drugs and alcohol as a form of entertainment with my old friends. I definitely can say that my attitude towards my social age group has made me think about future consequences versus present …show more content…
I can't comprehend why some of my friends who are acting this way would throw away their future all for a substance that can conflict their body. My attitude towards this is how ignorant can you be? I am a teenager and I understand how it feels to want to fit in, but I've realized that's not what I want to have to go through to fit in. I don't understand how they can be so oblivious to the fact that they can have fun and be cool without all of that. I have fun hanging out with my friends and there are no drugs or alcohol involved. I often wondered which path I would choose when I entered high school. But I think you have to be put in a situation to make the decision of yes or no. For example, if you walked up to your so called best friends' car window and they turned around with a cigarette in their hand, would you join them or stand firm in your beliefs and walk away like I did? I think my life experiences have helped me make the right decisions with my choices. I've chosen the path to stay clean and sober and to focus on my future goals. Hopefully my attitude will stay the same and maybe some of my other friends will change their attitude and their
According to Men’s Health, “alcohol kills more teenagers and young people than any of the other drugs taken to affect mood and behavior (heroin, cocaine, marijuana).” This issue interests me due to the many friends I have who drink overwhelmingly. Also, I have so many cousins that are younger than me that I am concerned about with this issue. There are many reasons to why teens may drink, not all of which are reasonable but is the truth, from what I know. Teen drinking can also result in very many mishaps that are mostly a terrible consequence.
College student drunkenness is far from new and neither are college and university efforts to control it. What is new, however, is the potential to make real progress on this age-old problem based on scientific research results. New research-based information about the consequences of high-risk college drinking and how to reduce it can empower colleges and universities, communities, and other interested organizations to take effective action. Hazardous drinking among college students is a widespread problem that occurs on campuses of all sizes and geographic locations. A recent survey of college students conducted by the Harvard University School of Public Health reported that 44 percent of respondents had drunk more than five drinks (four for women) consecutively in the previous two weeks. About 23 percent had had three or more such episodes during that time. The causes of this problem are the fact that students are living by themselves no longer with parents or guardians; they earn their own money; students need to be a part of a group, be accepted; and they have the wrong idea that to feel drunk is “cool.”
As a child I was not in to many sports or involved in school activities. Going through high school I figured out that being involved in a sport or a school club would make my high school experience better. The first and only sport I chose to do was track. Track changed my whole high school experience and life. I learned to never give up, and it kept me out of trouble throughout my four years of high school.
We've all heard it before: "Too much of anything is bad for us." The amount of binge drinking occurring on American college campuses today proves that college students do not heed this warning. Binge drinking, or drinking for the purpose of getting drunk, harms both drinkers and non-drinkers alike. As today's college students come dangerously close to being swept away in the sea of papers, exams, jobs, and interviews, they use bingeing as the lifeboat that allows them to escape the stress. It allows them to forget their worries, fit in with the crowd, and live on the edge in a fast-paced world that normally does not leave time for such activities. Teetering on the brink of adulthood, yet still trapped in childhood makes drinking decisions difficult for many college students. A desire to get away from our usual lives because of societal regulations and conformity, psychological and emotional problems, and the stress of everyday life causes college binge drinking.
There are many contributing factors and political issues that address substance abuse. Throughout the years, many researchers have designed many interventions and social policies designed to treat people who have used, abused, and became addicted to substances. Today, there are many new studies that address substance abuse at the individual, group, family, and community or policy levels. Today, there are many services that are effective for decreasing recidivism in youth who have completed a substance abuse program. A substance abuse treatment program or center is the best way to treat individuals who have abused substances.
A while back I was involved in a small gathering in my own dorm room where the consumption of alcohol was taking place by many college students under the legal drinking age limit. Although I was not drinking, the fact that I was socializing and allowing this to take place in my room put me under the position of a facilitator. This position is just as problematic as if I were to actually consume alcohol myself. The residential life handbook states that alcohol consumption in the dorms must involve only people above the legal drinking limit and may only be done behind closed doors in the dorm room. The reason for this rule is the topic at hand.
I’ve always been the type of person that truly enjoys athletics and have participated in nearly all sports offered to me. I started playing sports in elementary with club softball and basketball. As I entered my middle and high school years I was able to add the school sanctioned sports to my list of activities. This afforded me the opportunity of competing in volleyball, basketball, golf, track and softball. The camaraderie and life lessons of sports seemed invaluable to me.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, our environment does indeed have a major influence on the things we do. Naturally as human beings, we are social creatures and thrive off of interaction. As told by Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs”, we need to feel secure in our social environment and have a sense of belonging. What do most people at a young age desire in this world? Fitting in. When talking about society and substance usage, common themes such as: peer pressure, social media, and “the party scene” are very prevalent. Stacy Zeiger (2006), stated in an article on peer pressure, “When children start school, their parents begin to lose the influence they once had. By the teenage years, peers are the most influential group as teenagers navigate finding an identity and figuring out the roles that they play. Unfortunately, teenagers who choose the wrong
...olescences to abuse drugs depending on the influencing stimuli. We must educate the adolescences on respectable behavior and consequences to drug seeking behaviors and addiction.
High school is normally the time when teenagers begin to dabble in the world of alcohol – to discover their limits and develop habits and this experimentation carries over into college. That is the norm and its not a bad thing, but of course there are a few exceptions. In high school I never went to a single party, was never invited to one, and barely ever even heard about them. It was something that none of my close friends were a part of and the thought of drinking never really crossed my mind. I was so busy with my school work, my job, and the cross country team that I didn’t have much spare time, and when I did I wanted to relax and hang out with my friends. My parents raised me in the faith of the Catholic Church and this background gave me a strong moral base. I always laugh and I have fun doing the simplest things so it was easy for me to find activities to be a part of besides drinking. It was only the summer after high school graduation that I began to feel peer pressured to drink and the fact that I am always sober started to make me feel a bit isolated.
After interviewing my teenage cousin whom has been in several altercations at home and school, enlightened me on the ways that teenagers in her age group gets involved in drug use. Kids start as young as ten years of age using, selling, and experimenting with drugs. My teenage cousin was expelled from public schools when she started experimenting with drugs. She was surrounded by many challenges when she enrolled in the alternative behavioral school. Many students, whom attend the alternative behavioral school use drugs, sell drugs, are on probation, have been arrested, engage in sexual activity and drink alcohol.
In today’s society, there is a larger variety of drugs that are used, drugs have become easily accessible, and drugs are more likely to be misused. Drugs are commonly misused because of the lack of education people have surrounding how the drug should be taken, or what the consequences of taking the drug may be. Drug education is planned information and skills that are relevant to living in a world where drugs have become more commonly misused (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_education). For teachers, implementing drug education can help individuals to gain knowledge about drugs that they may be introduced to or come into contact with, and help to prevent the use and misuse of drugs among the students in the classroom. By students gaining this information, the prevention can be expanded into the community.
Alcohol and drug abuse is one of biggest problems in United States today. It is not only a personal problem that dramatically affects individuals' lives, but is a major social problem that affects society as whole. "Drug and alcohol abuse", these phrases we hear daily on the radio, television or in discussions of social problem. But what do they mean or what do we think and understand by it? Most of us don't really view drug or alcohol use as a problem, if that includes your grandmother taking two aspirins when she has a headache or your friends having few beers or drinks on Saturday night. What we really mean is that some drugs or alcohol are being used by some people or in some situations constitute problem with which our society must deal. It becomes a real problem when using or I should say abusing drugs cause accidents, antisocial behavior, broken relationships, family instability, crime and violence, poverty, unsafe streets and highways, worker absenteeism and nonproductivity, and the most tragic one death. The situation in which the drug or alcohol uses accurse often makes all the difference. The clearest example is the drinking of alcohol, when individual begins to drink during the job, at school, or in the morning, we have evidence that indicates a potential drinking problem. If a person takes narcotic drug because he just wrecked his knee while his physician prescribed playing football and the drug, most of us would be not concerned. If, on the other hand, he took the same drug on his own just because he likes the way it makes him feel, then we should begin to worry about him developing dependence. Even use of illegal drugs are sometimes acceptable, but it also depends on situation, for example in some countries smoking marijuana is legal just like drinking alcohol in United States. Some subcultures even in United States that accept the use of illegal drugs may distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable situation, some college age groups might accept marijuana smoking at a party on weekends, but not just before going to a calculus class. Most of people would accept a fact that a bartender or a waiter who is working at a night club is having a beer or a drink on his break or that a landscape worker is having a cold beer with his lunch on a hot summer day. I'm not saying that it is "OK" but we wouldn't complain a...
Drugs and alcohol have become a huge issue among young people. Laws have been made to prevent teens from obtaining alcohol and certain legal drugs, but it still happens. The biggest problem is teens do not understand how to handle alcohol and do not understand the risks or consequences. They want to be cool and fit in and have fun, but it is not all fun and games. Adolescents are able to find drugs and alcohol so easy these days. It is a scary thought to think about what our generation has come to and how the generations will be after us. According to philosophynow.org, cool defined is, to stay calm even when you are stressed. In my opinion cool is when you feel like you belong and people do not judge you, because they accept you for who you are. A lot of times “quote,” wrote Myers (45). The conventional way of focusing more on appearance than on substance can turn “cool” people into superior beings. However to be cool can be seen as a negative attitude leading to individual indifference and their social life may go downhill. Drugs and alcohol are not cool and teens need to stop thinking that their lives revolve around it.
Extracurricular activities can benefit students greatly through their personal lives and well being. According to Justin Coulson in his article on kidspot.com, students that are involved in extracurricular activities, such as sports or clubs, are generally healthier than those who do not participate. Extracurricular activities can help raise student’s self esteem and self awareness as stated by Joy Burgess in her article, “Extracurricular School Activities and the Benefits” at more4kids.info. Being involved allows the student to learn about the skills and talents they already have and can teach them new ones such as time management, organization, and prioritizing skills. It also allows the students to realize what they are good at or enjoy doing (Burgess). As similarly described by the College Board staff at collegeboard.org, extracurriculars can enable you to learn your personal talents, interests, ...